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Monday, October 22, 2012

Mystery Monday: Part 4 Man on the Run - Annie Found

Mystery Monday is a
daily prompt at Geneabloggers that
asks us to share mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything in our family
history research which is currently unsolved. With any luck fellow
genealogy bloggers will lend their eyes to what has been found so far and
possibly help solve the mystery.

Many years ago, my sister and I spent a lovely afternoon
with our maternal grandfather’s cousin Vessie Jollett Steppe. We were on a fact-finding mission in our
early days of genealogy research, and Vessie was just the person to talk
to. She identified people in old photos
and talked at length about various members of the Jollett family.

Then she asked US a question: In your research, have you run across
anything about Annie Found?

Annie who?

As if trying to recall just exactly what she had heard as
a child, Vessie said she had always heard about a baby girl being left by a
Jollett boy on somebody’s doorstep. She
didn’t know who the boy was, where this was supposed to have happened, or even
in what time period. And who dubbed the
baby “Annie Found”?

Of course, we were no help with that little mystery, so
it became a little scribbled notation on a legal pad.

Fast forward about thirteen years.

A few weeks ago, I heard from “Patricia,” one of several
Boyd family researchers. In her Internet
surfing, she found a page from the now-defunct Geocities where I had housed my
research. And because Patricia is such a
good thinker, she immediately noted a possible connection between my Annie
Found story and her Vinie Martin story.
Could Annie Found be the illegitimate child of Vinie Martin and William
Jollett, a.k.a. William Boyd? Was he the
Jollett boy who deposited a baby on someone’s doorstep as he fled out of town
in 1876? And whose doorstep?

Among the letters that William and Hattie Boyd had sent
to people in Rockingham County, Virginia was a response that could be a clue. It said a family named Lichliters “. . . can
give all information that anyone wants.”

The mention in the letter of other names, Ruby, Georgie, Helen, and
Oscar, led us to David and Sarah Munch Lichliter in Shenandoah County, the same
county William Jollett visited when he was released from prison, the same
county he rode through in his mad escape to Giles County. Perhaps coincidentally, the 1880 census shows
David and Sarah with two daughters: Ida
age 2 and – wait for it – Annie age 4. Doing the math makes it clear that her birth
year corresponds with the time that William Jollett disappeared.

1880 Shenandoah County, Virginia Censusclick to enlarge

So did David and Sarah FIND little Annie on their doorstep?
The family Bible simply records Annie as
their daughter. But really, would anyone
write “Found on a doorstep” in the family Bible? It’s doubtful. For now, the notion that we might have found Annie Found is only conjecture.

And what about Vinie Martin? What became of her? Not so surprisingly, there was a Virginia
Martin in the 1870 Page County, Virginia census, the same county where William
Jollett and his family lived. Vinie
sounds like a reasonable nickname for Virginia. In 1876, she would have been about 17 or 18,
certainly old enough to have attracted a man like William Jollett. But whether this is THE Vinie Martin we don’t
know for sure.

In 1878, just two years after the reported incident with
William Jollett, this Virginia Martin married Daniel Cullers of Shenandoah
County. The Cullers were neighbors of –
are you ready for this? – Sarah Munch Lichliter’s family. Munch, Lichliter, and Cullers families were
living side by side for decades. Certainly
it’s not unthinkable that a woman like Vinie would be curious about her child, insert
herself into the community where she could observe from a distance, and meet
someone to marry.

Now if you aren’t already dizzy from trying to keep up
with this soap opera, grab the Dramamine.
In the 1880 Warren County, Virginia census we find Daniel and Virginia
Cullers and two daughters. Warren County
is where William Jollett and his wife Mary Elizabeth Martin were living when he
was tried, convicted, and sentenced for horse theft. And thus the story comes back to where we
began.

1880 Warren County, Virginia Censusclick to enlarge

Remember, I’m not claiming that Annie Lichliter was Annie
Found or that Virginia Martin Cullers was the same Vinie Martin, but the circumstantial
evidence is strong. For now, however, that’s
all it is – circumstantial.

While I am satisfied that the letters offer enough
clues to prove William Jollett and William Boyd are the same person, the Boyd
researchers would like definite confirmation through DNA testing. I have contacted several Jollett men, but so
far none have responded. The more compelling mystery for both of us is the terrible story that prompted William Boyd’s
grandson to burn crucial parts of the letters.
Searches for court records and newspaper articles have produced no
answers.In that sense, William H. Jollett / William Preston Boyd remains a mystery.

Ever thought of going into the law trade? Wow! You have presented some compelling circumstantial evidence Wendy! Please update us if you ever get any DNA test results (granted those you've tried to contact agree to the DNA test of course).

My name is Russell Boyd. I have taken the ancestry.com DNA Test. I got a hit from a Jollett family member. So we are related to the Jolletts.It even listed the common name. Any questions contact me at reboyd811@gmail.com

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net